'This Country is Definitely in Need of a Homegrown Industry, and This Could Be It'

Magic Ellingson, who goes by Henry Hemp, smells a marijuana plant at the International Cannabis & Hemp Expo on Saturday, April 17, 2010,
in Daly City, Calif. (AP)

Well, we certainly do need more homegrown industry, but I'm not sure this is quite what people are looking for, especially guys walking around with giant marijuana leaves on their heads.

– Medical marijuana users near San Francisco lit up Saturday at the opening of the two-day International Cannabis and Hemp Expo, where vendors displayed bongs, vaporizers, hash brownies and other marijuana-related products.

Organizers of the event at the Cow Palace said they insisted on having an onsite medicating area before holding the expo. Under a white-canopied courtyard, young adults in baggy jeans and baseball caps smoked alongside aging hippies.

Adrian Hernandez said marijuana use helps him deal with chronic knee pain.

"Everybody needs their medication when they need it," said Hernandez, who is in his 30s. "We'd have to step out and go hide in our cars."

In 1996, California voters approved a measure that allowed sick people to use marijuana if they have doctor referrals and an identification card.

But marijuana advocates want to take it a step further. In November, voters will consider a ballot measure on whether to legalize and tax pot in California.

They may as well just legalize it since so many folks there are using it, but good luck squeezing tax revenue out of the large scale growers.

The expo, and others like it, will help develop the multibillion dollar pot industry, said Bucky Fisher, national sales manager for Medical Marijuana Inc., which sells hemp-related products and provides services to ensure marijuana dispensaries follow the law.

"It makes the industry more of a community, more visible, more powerful," he said. "This country is definitely in need of a homegrown industry, and this could be it."

Meanwhile, it looks like some heavy duty ingesting was going on there yesterday.

Mike Ush smokes vaporized marijuana from a large balloon during the International Cannabis & Hemp Expo on Saturday, April 17, 2010, in Daly City, Calif. (AP)